24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
Here is an interesting preterist view of this passage that I thought might interest some of you.
ToddAaron wrote:I think Christ's words in this passage have direct reference to a period that is, in our day, long past.
I believe the "resurrections" of which Christ speaks should be interpreted in light of v. 25 of this chapter. There, we read, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." Christ links the then-present and ongoing spiritual resurrection of those who are said to be "dead" (v. 25) with a then-future event in which these very same people (whom he categorizes as "those who have done good" and "those who have done evil") will come out of "the tombs" (v. 28). Of course, those of whom Christ spoke (i.e., those who were passing "from death to life" in response to hearing his voice at that time – see v. 24) were not literally dead. As is your understanding, the "death" in view in vv. 24-25 is a figurative death (i.e., death "in transgressions and sins"). In verses 28-29, Christ is simply building off of his already-established metaphor of death and resurrection, and referring to the consummation of what had already begun to take place due to the proclamation of the gospel.
In verse 27, Christ is referring to that which was yet future when he says "the hour is coming," and to that which was still present when he says "and is now here..." He says "and is now here" because this figurative "resurrection" of the people of Israel had already begun taking place, and was to continue and culminate at a yet-future time. Throughout John's gospel Christ uses the phrase "an hour is coming" in reference to a time that was in the relatively near future (i.e., within that generation in which he lived), and never to a time 2,000+ years into the future. In John 4:21-23 we read,
"Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor inJerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not now; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him."
Similarly, we read later in chapter 16 (vv. 2-4, 25, 32):
"They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God…But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you…I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father… Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me."
As used in the above passages, the expression "the hour is coming" evidently refers to the period of tribulation and persecution leading up to, and climaxing in, the overthrow of the Jewish nation in 70 AD. Jesus adds "the hour is now here" because what he was referring to had already begun, and would continue until, and culminate in, the hour that was still "coming" (which, by the time the apostle John wrote his first epistle, had already drawn near – see 1 John 2:18).
It is my understanding that those who were "passing from death to life" in v. 25 are the same persons who would later come out of their "tombs" at the future time in view, to receive either "life" or "judgment." The image I would suggest that Jesus is painting for his listeners in these verses is that of "corpses" (i.e., the spiritually dead people of Israel) being reanimated and coming to life (receiving the spiritual life of the kingdom), but not yet leaving their "tombs" until a future time (when the Messianic kingdom "comes in power" and is inherited by all true believers). When the time comes for them to come out of their tombs, some ("those who have done good") find themselves resurrected to even more blessing ("life" - i.e., an inheritance in the Messianic kingdom at the time of its establishment in the world) while others ("those who have done evil") find themselves resurrected to what in Daniel 12:2 is called "shame and everlasting contempt" ("judgment" - i.e., being cast out of the kingdom into the "outer darkness," when Jerusalem was overthrown).
The "dead" of whom Christ is speaking are not literally dead (no more so than the "dead" spoken of in Eph 2:1 and 5:14 or in 1 Pet 4:6), nor are the "tombs" literal tombs (no more so than the "graves" of which we read in Ezekiel chapter 37, when God declares, "Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people."). The people of Israel are likely represented by Christ as being in "tombs" to signify their low and undesirable condition of sitting "in darkness and in the shadow of death" (Luke 1:79). But as the gospel was being proclaimed throughout Judea, multitudes were responding to it in faith, and were consequently being enlightened with the truth of the gospel and receiving "life." I think it is significant that Paul combines the metaphors of "sleeping" and "awakening" (found in Daniel 12:2) with that of being "dead" and "arising" (found here in John 5:28-29), and applies it to circumstances taking place in his day.
This passing from death to life continued throughout the ministry of the apostles, even up until the time when the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans (something that John reveals was greatly feared by the Jewish leaders at that time – see 11:48-50). Among those who believed the gospel, some ("many," according to John 12:42-43) did not openly confess their belief for fear of what others would think, and because they didn’t want to be "put out of the synagogue." Thus, while they were awakened to the new life of the gospel, they ultimately "fell away" from the truth of the gospel altogether and returned to their former way of life (see Heb 2:3, 6:4-8; 10:26-29; John 8:30-33, 37, 44; 2 Pet 2:20-22; etc.). If any among the people of Israel fell away from the truth of the Gospel at some point prior to Christ’s coming in his kingdom (and thus did not "endure to the end" as Christ exhorted his followers to do in order to be "saved"), they exposed themselves once again to the coming judgment upon their nation. Christ himself warned his disciples, "If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned" (John 15:6). Christ is here talking about those who had "passed from death to life" and were abiding in him (cf. John 6:54, 56), but subsequently fall away from the faith. It is these people who were "resurrected to judgment" when the "hour" came. Having "fallen from grace" (so to speak), they were consequently judged with the rest of the nation when Christ came to establish his kingdom in the world, and found themselves awakened not to "life" but to the "shame and everlasting contempt" of which was prophesied in Daniel 12.
To better understand Jesus' words in this passage (as well as the passages that are parallel to it), I believe it is helpful to know that, in the New Testament, "life aionion" ("age-abiding life") and the "kingdom of God" are basically synonymous expressions, and were used interchangeably by Christ (see Matt 19:16-17, 23-24; 25:34, 46; Mark 9:45-47). To have "age-abiding life" is to be in the "kingdom of God," and to be in God’s kingdom is to be in possession of this life. To inherit the kingdom of God is the same as entering into "age-abiding life" (Matt 25:34, 46). In contrast to that condemned state of which "death" is often used as a figure in Scripture (see John 5:24; Rom 6:16, 21, 23; 7:5, 9, 11, 13; Eph 2:1, 5; Col 2:13; James 1:14-15; 1 Peter 4:6; Rev 3:1; 20:12), "age-abiding life" (i.e., being in the kingdom of God) is a condition of purity and devotion to God - or, as Paul says, "righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom 14:17). Because the Messianic kingdom is not a geo-political kingdom but a spiritual kingdom (John 18:36; Rom 14:17; Col 1:13-14), the blessing enjoyed by its citizens is a spiritual blessing, and is often spoken of as something that was, or could be, presently entered into and enjoyed by believers even before "Christ came in his kingdom" (John 3:3-5, 36; 4:14; 5:24; 6:40, 53-54; 10:10; 11:25-26; 17:1-3; 1 John 3:14-15; 5:11-12). But when the Messianic kingdom came with power at the overthrow of Jerusalem, all who had believed the Gospel of Christ were ushered into the full realization of the blessing they had already begun to enjoy. While they, in one sense, had already entered the kingdom (Col 1:13-14) and had already begun to enjoy its spiritual blessings, it was not until the kingdom came with power that believers (both Jewish and Gentile) were vindicated by Christ and given the honor and glory promised to those who endured faithful to the end of the age.